Happy Halloween!

We knew we were going to dress up as a family this year. We were contimplating a few themes but finally decided on Red Riding Hood. My MIL was kind enough to make Vivian's Little Red Riding Hood costume. I spent 3 bucks on fur to cover some cat ears I had. Derrick hit up the Salvation Army and scored his nighty half off for 2 bucks. I say we looked pretty darn good for a budget Halloween. It took a minute for Vivian to recognize me with my heavy eye makeup and fluffy ears but she was completely put off by Derrick's costume. She didn't recognize him at all and wouldn't let him old her. Thankfully she wasn't scared, just cautious.

A couple of weeks ago we drove around to find a good area to trick-or-treat in but then it was suggested to us by a neighbor that we go to the Imperial Woods neighborhood. WOW! They do Halloween like most neighborhoods do Christmas. The decorations were top notch complete with scary sounds being pumped into the street. The roads were blocked and there were about 10 cops on foot, bike and golf cart on each street.

Vivian's bedtime is 7:00 and we wanted to beat the high school crowd rowdiness so we arrived about 5:45. When we parked we didn't see any other families but as we were getting Vivian in her costume a couple came out with their little ones. Every house had a table set out in front with candy and and the families were dressed to match a theme. Amongst the amazingness was a Star Wars house that had life-sized characters, an Incredibles house that had the movie playing on their garage door, and an authentic NOLA house that was serving jambalaya. Giant spiders on the sides of houses, fog, shrilling voices, skeletons dangling from trees. It was right out of a movie.

We walked about two blocks. Vivian walked the whole way holding my hand tight and on high alert. She was very serious, looking at everything and everyone. At each house she took the candy and then dropped it into her candy bag that I was holding. She didn't take her eyes off the person giving her the candy to put in the bag. I'm pretty sure she was confused as to why nobody looked like a person anymore. They looked like witches and fairies and superheroes; Mommy and Daddy didn't even look normal. Although she was suspicious of everyone, they all thought she was the cutest thing. She is pretty adorable even when she's serious.

It was a fun evening and I look forward to going back next year!